Posts Tagged ‘Jennifer Lawrence’

Days of Future Past may be top of the box office right now, but most X fans are already salivating about the next X-Men film – Apocalypse – due out May 27, 2016.

That film was teased in DOFP’s end credits scene when we see the mutant villain Apocalypse as a young boy in Egypt building pyramids with his mind. In the comics, Apocalypse is one of the X-Men’s greatest adversaries. But the real question, or at least the one I’ve been wondering, is which cast would the upcoming sequel use? Would it be the First Class stars, namely James McAvoy (Charles Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) and Nicholas Hoult (Beast), with some new additions, or would we see Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and some of the other originals that were teased at the end thrown into the mix as well?

Turns out screenwriter Simon Kinberg has shed some light on that in a recent interview with The Daily Beast.

“(Apocalypse) will focus primarily on the First Class cast, but it will certainly have some of the original cast involved, too,” Kinberg said.

The film is rumoured to take place in the ’80s and director Bryan Singer is expected to return.

Kinberg also talked about Rogue’s deleted scene in DOFP. “When I was crafting the script, I wanted to create a subplot for old Charles and old Eric—Patrick and Ian—to have a mini-mission together, one final adventure. And that’s what the Rogue sequence was—that they went to retrieve Rogue… It was a narrative detour, and in a film with this much momentum and narrative flow, you can’t afford any detours.”

Next summer’s Fantastic Four reboot was also addressed, with Kinberg promising a film that “will feel as unique as when you saw Iron Man, X-Men, or Batman Begins for the first time.”

It won’t be goofy, he promises. Thank goodness for that.

Head over to The Daily Beast to read more from Kinberg’s interview, including what is happening with the recently-announced Gambit movie.

After telling MTV at last month’s MTV Movie Awards that he wanted to play Gambit in the X-Men, Channing Tatum has been granted his wish. The star of the upcoming 22 Jump Street and Jupiter Ascending has been confirmed to play the mutant hero in an upcoming X-Men film.

Producer Lauren Shuler Donner revealed the news in a red carpet interview with Total Film at the X-Men: Days of Future Past premiere in London.

“He’s a rogue, Channing — he’s a rascal, just like Remy LeBeau. And he can handle the action, we all know that. And he’s got a really good heart,” she said. “I think he’ll be great for Gambit. And he’s a southerner too… he understands that world.”

The X-Men producer also hinted that she wants to bring Deadpool to the big screen (last seen played by Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and that she is interested in X-Force (“We love X-Force; it allows us to be a little grittier”).

In related X-Men news, Jennifer Lawrence talked about the future plans for her character following the events of Days of Future Past. When The Hollywood Reporter caught up with her on the red carpet for the time travelling X-Men film, Lawrence was asked whether Mystique would still become a villain following the events in the retro sequel.

“This time because the future is undetermined, we have freedom to choose where we want to go with her,” the actress explained. “Is she going to become the assassin that we know her as now, like Rebecca Romijn’s character? Or is she going to do what Charles [Xavier] wants and go down the path of no killing?”

If you’re like me and you stayed until the final frame of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 over the weekend, you may or may not have seen a heavily-talked about post-credits scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past that was inserted into the movie.

The scene was not in the press screening I saw last Wednesday. My colleague Jim Slotek also didn’t see it when he caught the film in New York.

Alas, the fine people at EW (via IGN) have provided a link to the sequence, which features Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) rescuing Toad, Havoc, Ink and Spyke from a military base.

The scene, which Fox negotiated as part of its decision to let director Marc Webb do Spidey 2 (he was under contract with Fox for another film), is taken straight from Days of Future Past and doesn’t hint at any future crossover films. Although while making the press rounds for TASM2 in New York, Avi Arad – the man who created the Marvel movie blockbuster phenomenon – said a crossover was possible.

“But if we want to do that, the crossovers, it has to be a story that is absolutely centered on Spider-Man. We cannot be second banana to anything out there. Because this is the king. This is the one that influenced young people from birth.”

Huge spoiler alert! Okay, maybe that’s overdoing it. If you don’t want to know anything about the post-credits scene in Amazing Spider-Man 2, stop reading now. I’m going to insert the trailer just below this, so no one accuses me of ruining their day.

You’re back? Good. According to Empire, a clip from X-Men: Days of Future Past will run after the credits in Amazing Spider-Man 2. For the uninitiated, the Spidey and X-Men films are owned by Sony and Fox respectively, and there are no plans for a crossover (Fox is rumoured to be working on a team-up with its other Marvel franchise, The Fantastic Four). So placement of a scene from Days of Future Past seems weird, unless they are just trying to acknowledge a shared Marvel universe.

Disney obviously doesn’t feel the same way. It opted to use Aaron Taylor-Johnson to play Quicksilver in The Avengers: Age of Ultron (the character appears in Days of Future Past, but is played by Evan Peters). Although, the Oscorp building almost appeared in the New York skyline of The Avengers, so maybe they just didn’t like Fox’ choice to play Magneto’s son.

According to Empire, the scene at the end of ASM2 shows Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique, Lucas Till’s Havok and Evan Jonigkeit’s Toad taking on William Stryker (Josh Helman) and his military men. “Without wishing to spoil anything,” they write, “let’s just say that Mystique once again demonstrates her formidable fighting skills in the brief segment.”

An update from Variety indicates that the X-Men clip was negotiated by Fox because Spider-Man director Marc Webb “owed” them another film following 2009′s 500 (Days) of Summer.

What do you think about this news? Would you like to see a grand Marvel crossover involving characters from all the films, or are you happy to keep the universes separate? Sound off in the comments.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens May 2nd, while X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theatres on May 23rd.

Bryan Singer’s time-travelling X-Men: Days of Future Past isn’t out for another two months, but he’s stoking anticipation for the already-planned sequel which is already inked in for a 2016 release.

In an extensive interview with Total Film (via Comicbookmovie.com), the director revealed X-Men: Apocalypse will take place in the 1980s, involve ancient mutants and “more mass destruction” than any of the existing X-Men films.

“It’ll be a contemporary movie – well, it’ll take place in the ’80s… The ’80s is a period now – it’s hard for me to believe that… Apocalypse will have more of the mass destruction that X-Men films, to date, have not relied upon. There’s definitely now a character and a story that allow room for that kind of spectacle.”

Singer also revealed there are other X-Men stories he wants to tell. “Yeah, there actually are … These prequels are really exciting for me because they give me a chance to explore ideas I came up with more than a decade ago.”

Our Contributors

Bruce Kirkland has been a reporter with Sun Media for 31 years. He has worked the movies beat from 1980-2007, and still focuses on TIFF, Cannes, Oscars. Before taking a position at the Toronto Sun, he worked at the Ottawa Journal as entertainment editor and movie critic from 1979-80, and at Toronto Star as music critic and general-assignment news reporter from 1971-79.

Jim has been a Sun reporter for 28 years. Previously covered TV beat and all entertainment fields. Scriptwriter for NHL Awards, Gemini Awards, documentaries. Prior to Sun, worked at Ottawa Citizen as entertainment reporter from 1981-1983.

Liz Braun has been a Sun reporter for 25 years, all as movies critic. Worked concurrently in TV and radio for 20 years; co-hosted the original On The Arts for CBC National TV, for example and also appeared on Canada AM and various TV talk shows with regard to entertainment news. Previously was a music publicist: national director of publicity for CBS (now Sony) Records and Concert Productions International.